Further cycling question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
twhittle

twhittle

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2007
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Clarkston, Wa
So, in a previous post I explained that my 180 gallon with a mega flow 4 sump has not been moving even to the nitrite portion of the cycle after 6 weeks. It has been between .25-.50 ammonia with 0 nitrites and 0 nitrate for basically the whole time. I had thought the tank was cycled after a couple weeks and put fish in...I was wrong. I have a 9 inch Oscar, a couple of 4 inch Texas, four 4 inch convicts, a 4 inch red devil, a 6 inch pleco, a 6 inch jack dempsey, and a pair of 3-4 inch salvini.

Yesterday I bought a fluval 306 canister filter from a guy who had it set up for a couple of years on an established tank. After about 2 hours of it running the fish started acting more active. I thought maybe I had achieved a "quick cycle." This morning I tested the water and my ammonia spiked from .25 to 2.0 overnight. What is going on here? Is my cycle accelerating with the introduction of an established filter? I still have 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate.

Second question...could the driftwood I bought from a lfs (got it out of their tanks) be causing my problem? Also, I made my own plants by buying plastic and silk plants from Hobby Lobby and siliconing gravel to the bottom. It has worked great, they stay at the bottom, and are beautiful. I used 100% silicone. Could something in the be causing my problem? Some are the plants that have a stem that is wire underneath the green part of the plant so it is bendable.

Thanks for your advice. I know cycling takes patience, but I would think after 6-weeks I would see some movement.
 
duanes said:
What were you using to cycle the tank?
Was it a fishless cycle where you were adding straight ammonia?
Or a bunch of sacrifice fish?
Click to expand...

My original cycle was with some goldfish.
 
That's quite the spike of ammonia from .25 to 2ppm overnight. IMO, I don't think it was from the fake plants. If you didn't add ammonia, the only known variable is the used filter and driftwood you introduced from existing tanks? Having ammonia is definitely needed for your cycle, but not having the bb to break it down to nitrite, then nitrate isn't good either. I would add Seachem Prime (or equivalent) to detoxify the ammonia, and perhaps a PWC.

I've understood to use existing filters/items from existing tanks to a jumpstart the cycle process, but that's in terms of establishing bb. This in turn, helps to speed up the breaking down of ammonia, nitrite, etc. I don't think it means to increase ammonia.
 
To prepare/cycle a biofilter to sufficiently handle the stock you listed above all at once, you would need to use enough goldfish to be a near equivalent of your stock.
It would take about 40 feeder sized goldfish to produce the bacterial population needed to process the ammonia produced by a 9 inch Oscar, a couple of 4 inch Texas, four 4 inch convicts, a 4 inch red devil, a 6 inch pleco, a 6 inch jack dempsey, and a pair of 3-4 inch salvini.
 
I purchased a fluval 306 filter from a guy who had it on an established tank. After 2 days, I am cycled!
 
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